Over 1 million Bitcoin (BTC) are now held in custody by Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) designed to track the asset’s price performance, according to the Alpha Report by Decrypt.
As of May 24, more than 30 Bitcoin ETFs collectively own 1,002,343 BTC, as confirmed by MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor, investor hodl15capital (on X), and verified by Decrypt through public reports and Coinglass’s Bitcoin ETF dashboard. These holdings represent about 5% of the circulating BTC supply worldwide, valued at $70.5 billion. This is nearly five times the size of Saylor’s own Bitcoin stash, which totals 214,400 BTC (worth $15 billion).
Most of this Bitcoin is held within U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs that launched in January, breaking all previous ETF launch performance records. The largest shares are held by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (289,040 BTC) and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (287,168 BTC), which together account for over half of the total.
Major Bitcoin ETFs
Other significant U.S. Bitcoin ETFs include Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (161,538 BTC), Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (48,444 BTC), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (36,185 BTC). Internationally, Canada’s Purpose Bitcoin ETF, the first in the world, holds 27,110 BTC.
Bitcoin ETFs provide a way for investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin through a familiar investment structure, allowing the asset to be included in retirement or other tax-advantaged accounts. They also offer a way for large institutions to invest in Bitcoin without directly purchasing it from a crypto exchange.
Institutional Interest
First-quarter reports indicated that over 20% of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF exposure was held by large investors and institutions with over $100 million in assets, including hedge funds, banks, and even the state of Wisconsin’s pension fund.
“I think long term these could be between one and five percent of the US ETF market, which is a $7 trillion market,” said Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan in an interview earlier this month. “I think this is a multi-hundred billion dollar addressable market in the US alone.”
The growing number of Bitcoin ETFs and their substantial holdings reflect a significant institutional interest in Bitcoin. As these funds continue to expand, they could play a crucial role in the broader adoption and stabilization of the cryptocurrency market.
